Dead body may have fallen from airliner

Police in Massachusetts in the US are looking into whether a teenage boy found dead on the street in a Boston suburb may have dropped from a plane's wheel well, an official with knowledge of the investigation said.

Severe trauma to the body and the town of Milton's location on a flight path to Boston's Logan International Airport make a fall from an aircraft a distinct possibility, said the official, who asked not to be identified because the inquiry is continuing.

A finding that the boy stowed away on an airliner would make the case at least the second in the US this year. A man's body was recovered February 7 from the wheel well of a Delta Air Lines jet after arrival at Tokyo's Narita airport from New York.

The teen's body was discovered November 15 in Milton and identified as that of Delvonte Tisdale, 16, of Charlotte, North Carolina, according to a statement from William Keating, the district attorney in Massachusetts's Norfolk County. Tisdale was a sophomore in the Air Force Junior ROTC program at North Mecklenburg High School, the Charlotte Observer reported today.

Authorities are investigating "every possibility regarding how Delvonte Tisdale came to be found dead," said David Traub, a spokesman for Keating.

Traub declined to say whether the scenarios under study include a possible fall from an aircraft. Tisdale was seen in North Carolina on Sunday, November 14, and less than 24 hours later was found dead in Massachusetts, Traub said in an interview.

"The investigation is trying to connect point A -- Sunday -- with point B -- Monday," he said.

Routes, Times

Investigators asked Logan airport to compile flight routes and times over the town of Milton, said Phil Orlandella, an airport spokesman. An inbound plane over Milton, a community of about 26,000 people, probably would have been at an altitude of about 1500 feet (457 metres), Orlandella said.

Milton Deputy Police Chief Charles Paris didn't return a message seeking a comment. The Federal Aviation Administration hasn't been asked to help in the probe at this time, said Jim Peters, an agency spokesman.

The possible stowaway angle emerged on the eve of the pre- Thanksgiving holiday rush, with tighter screening taking place in many of the biggest US airports as the Transportation Security Administration expands the use of body scanners.

Stowaway cases usually end in death, according to aviation- safety specialists. Passenger jets typically cruise at altitudes of at least 30,000 feet, higher than the 10,000-foot standard for the use of supplemental oxygen, and temperatures at that altitude can plummet to minus 45 degrees Celsius or colder.

Hitching a ride while hidden above a plane's landing gear would require evading security checkpoints, because an airport's tarmac is off-limits to unauthorized personnel.

Tisdale lived with his father and had run away before, the Observer reported.

-------------------------------
Read more Aviation News
View Model Aircraft